How to Make My Toshiba Laptop Boot in CD Drive

By Damarious Page

Booting up your Toshiba laptop means it is simply loading the first piece of software that starts your computer, which is usually an operating system, such as Windows XP or Vista. The operating system is usually stored on the hard disk drive (HDD); occasionally, however, you may need to boot the unit from a CD, or DVD in some cases, instead of the HDD.You can make your laptop boot from the CD drive, using the Boot Menu. There are two ways in which to access this menu; as you read, you will want to decide whether you want your changes to be temporary or permanent, and more so if all options are available to you.

Step 1

Prepare for start-up. Make sure that your laptop is powered down. Your screen should be blank. The only illumination should be from where the unit is plugged in and charging, as indicated by the LED lights on the laptop's chassis.

Step 2

Memorize, and ready yourself. When you power up your laptop, you will see the Toshiba splash screen very prominently in the center of the screen. This starting screen may appear for only a few seconds, so you will want to memorize beforehand what to expect.There are two keyboard functions that will most likely appear in the bottom left-hand side of your screen: F2 and F12. Either "F" function will help you get to the Boot Menu.You will have to look closely to see if both functions are available or if only one is available. If you miss the wording and the start-up progresses further than you wanted, it's okay to power down and restart, manually, using your power button.

Step 3

F12. Using the F12 function will take you directly to the Boot Menu, and this boot sequence change may only be temporary.Start up your laptop. Once the splash screen appears, press the F12 key. The unit will not respond immediately to your depressing the key, but know that it did accept your command. The Boot Menu will pop up with about four to five options: HDD, LAN, USB, FDD, CD-DVD, etc. The numbering signifies the order in which the laptop will try to boot by default. Usually, the HDD is how most units are set up to boot, by being in position "1." The CD-DVD option will appear in one of the numbers after that. Using your up and down arrow keys, highlight the CD-DVD option, then press "Enter." Your laptop will restart and boot using the CD-DVD option, instead of the default HDD.

Step 4

F2. Using the F2 function will take you to the BIOS, and changing the boot sequence here will make the change permanent. After starting up your laptop and getting the splash screen, press F2 and wait a moment for your command to be accepted. You will then have access to the BIOS. At the top, you want to find the section heading labeled "Boot." Use your left and right arrow keys to navigate and highlight over to that menu. As you move across the headings, you will see the content under each heading change as well. Once you reach the Boot section, glance down at the content and you will see the current boot sequence. To change the boot sequence to where the CD-DVD will be the first start-up option, arrow down and highlight it. To move the CD-DVD option up to the first slot, you will need to use the plus (+) and minus (–) keys on your keyboard, which correspond to up and down, respectively. Save your changes by selecting "Save and Exit," which is usually F10 in the BIOS. If a confirmation of the changes is requested, select "Yes." Then your laptop will restart in the CD-DVD option.

Tips & Warnings

Disc drives may be labeled "CD only," "DVD only," or "CD-DVD"; thus you will want to be aware of the type of media on which your software is stored.